Regulation

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided to implement its controversial plan to cut the maximum award from its Compensation Fund from £2m to £500,000.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal rejected a quarter of the outcomes agreed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and defendants last year, its annual report has revealed.

Lawyers acting for whistleblowers have told MPs and peers that they can feel intimidated to raise concerns over non-disclosure agreements because of the threat of retaliation.

The Legal Sector Workers Union has committed to backing legal action Bar professional training course students sitting exams next month may want to bring against the Bar Standards Board.

Larger law firms face a new levy of £100-200 per £1m of revenue to support the government’s economic crime plan, under proposals outlined by the Treasury yesterday.

A compliance officer for finance and administration who helped the firm’s owner use £500,000 received for disbursements to prop up the firm has accepted a ban from the profession.

A former president of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives has become the first member of that branch of the profession to be appointed to the Legal Services Board.

A law firm partner who asked if it was acceptable to call a gay trainee solicitor a “poofter” – and repeated the question to the trainee – has been fined £4,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Bar Council is applying for a £5m loan under the government’s coronavirus business interruption loan scheme amid concerns that nearly a third of legal aid barristers may leave the Bar next year.

A barrister has been ordered to hand over details of who else had access to a controversial Twitter account that harassed activists campaigning against antisemitism in the Labour Party.